“As a CTO, I think we’re often asked to look around corners, to peer into the future and to extrapolate from what we see in the marketplace today and technology trends so that we can anticipate what’s coming next.

One of the things I think we find is that the market always responds to a need that’s present in the marketplace by the customers.

So one of those needs was to develop the software that Amazon runs in an open-source environment so that anybody could build their Amazon-style cloud.

And so Cisco saw an opportunity here to influence that and in fact make sure that the idea of a network based service would become an essential part of this new open-source, OpenStack cloud”.

Lew Tucker @ Cloud Connect

You will have to adjust the volume. Excellent presentation slides supporting the key messages that he conveyed.

Moving to a world of many clouds – “connected Clouds”

As we move forward we will start to see the emergence of industry vertical clouds e.g. Healthcare, e-Gov

06:05 Cloud Focus. It is important that we get the cloud computing model right

Build out your virtual data centre with the trinity of Network, Compute and Data services

07:40 OpenStack high level overview

Description of Quantum Network Service Abstraction

Multi-tenant Virtual Data Centres

Think deeply about what you want in your own Virtual Data Centre in the Cloud

Organizations will typically ask the CIO or the CTO to assimilate responsibility for the design of the Cloud Strategy and implementation of the Cloud Model.

For me the cloud ecosystem is far too dynamic and moving at such a pace that the sole focus of the CTO must be on enabling Business change and delivering cost savings. The CTO must specify whether Application placement will either be close to the customer [Systems of Engagement] or close to the data.

Presently key Business stakeholders have no interest in the Data Centre infrastructure and are ambivalent regarding from where Compute services are sourced. For example iCloud, Dropbox etc. are ubiquitous and always on.

The CTO should be responsible for the Cloud Blueprint. One design solution increasing in adoption is where Virtual Private Clouds extend the Data Centre into the cloud. Network service providers deliver Virtual Private Network tunneling and multiple subnets to enable the seamless linkage between the physical data centre and elastic compute services.

Moreover, the CTO must support the Sourcing and Procurement function manage the commercial relationship with Cloud Service Brokerages who package cloud services for customers.

For me there is a clear distinction between the CIO, CTO and Cloud CTO roles.

The Cloud CTO is on the Sell side and is a role fulfilled by Cloud Independent Software Vendors and providers of Network, Compute and Data Services.

On the Buy side sits the CTO who is responsible for designing, sourcing and managing the service to the customer regardless of whether it is comprised of VPCs ,on and off premise, connected clouds or Hyper-hybrid Clouds.

If your organization does not have a CTO then you can reach out to the many advisory firms to help map out your journey into the Cloud. Safe travels.